Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan maintain that successful nonviolent resistance ushers in more durable and internally peaceful democracies, which are less likely to regress into civil war. They debunk the myth that violence occurs because of structural and environmental factors and that it is necessary to achieve certain political goals. Instead, they say violent insurgency is rarely justifiable on strategic grounds.

Erica Chenoweth is Assistant Professor; and Director, Program on Terrorism and Insurgency Research, Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy